A homeowner in Laurel had a close call after a semi-truck carrying produce crashed into his backyard, taking out trees and a fence while narrowly missing his house and an RV.
Watch big-rig crash story here:
Tim Hedin said he was at work in Billings with his dogs when the semi plowed through his property.
No one was home at the time.
A neighbor called to tell him the truck had crashed into his yard.
"I just honestly expected to see a little pickup in the backyard," Hedin said. "And when I pull up and there's a completely crashed semi and produce everywhere. I was pretty shocked."
The crash happened in the afternoon, when the big-rig went over an embankment off of Interstate 90.
The semi damaged a fence and just missed a building and some recreational equipment.
Gus Nieto lives across the street from the crash scene and heard the wreck happen.
"We heard the truck come off the road and, jackknife and fall into that, almost hit that house," Nieto said. "And then we went to go make sure that everybody was OK."
There were no official reports from the Montana Highway Patrol, but Nieto and others say the big-rig was heading east on Interstate 90, crossed over the median into the westbound lanes, and went down the embankment.
"So it missed hitting somebody head on," Nieto said.
Travis Williams said the driver was banged up and bruised, but believes he is OK.
The condition of the driver and the details of the crash have not been confirmed with the Montana Highway Patrol.
Williams knows the owner of the truck that crashed and came out to help with the cleanup.
"It's a friend and he's a great guy and I don't want him to sit there and have to put more money out of pocket," Williams said.
"Once I found out the driver was, you know, I think it'll be OK, I was pretty relieved," Hedin said. "Like wow, this is a lucky day."
Crews first towed away the tractor portion of the semi, pulling the truck off the hill and separating it from the trailer.
They then worked to get the trailer onto a flatbed truck before collecting the produce.
"It'll go into one of my side dump trailers and we'll throw it away," Williams said.
The cleanup crew removed the tractor portion of the big-rig and worked to clear the produce from the trailer, which they say will all have to go to the landfill.
Those close by say everyone was fortunate a real tragedy was avoided.
"I'm just glad no one was hurt and the house wasn't hit," Williams said.
"It was a blessing how little got damaged," Hedin said
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